Good Kids on Purpose™
Important things to know about children and hypnosis:
They are in a highly suggestible state (hypnotic state) most of their waking hours, until about the age of 12 years. In other words, anything they see, hear or are told goes directly into their subconscious as a ‘belief’.- They do not understand ‘language’ as adults do…it takes a life-time to get a full appreciation of language and what people mean by what they say and how they say it (context).
- They learn best and fastest from storytelling. Children have no ‘experiences’ of their own and as we’ve already stated above, are in a constant state of hypnosis (suggestibility); therefore everything they hear (and see) is a new ‘story’ for them.
- Children live up to the labels placed on them. If a child hears he is ADHD, stupid, a ‘brat’, a loser, etc. etc. he/she will live up to the label because he believes what he’s told about his identity.
- Children are like sponges, sucking up every bit of information they can get. They are genetically programmed to explore, learn, grow and develop. They ‘feel’ every mood and energy of the people around them. The tone of what is said to them has more impact then the word, thus energies of impatience, disappointment, discontent and so on coming from a caregiver act as a barometer for the child as to how safe and secure he is & how he is ‘doing’ in the world.
- Expression of feelings is as important to children as breathing. Force them to suppress their feelings by being judgmental, punitive or in any other negative way and you are smothering their very spirits.
- Children do not learn from ‘punishment’. From punishment they learn avoidance, especially because they don’t really understand why they are being punished. Children are born loving, caring and generous.
- They care nothing about their body, their clothes, skin colour or material things….until an adult teaches them to put value on these. Thus the value system they develop is entirely adopted from the adult(s) they interact with. Of course, this includes what they see and hear on TV.
- Children do not understand the word ‘love’, or for that matter any word. They slowly learn what they mean through experience.
- Along with belief and value systems, children ‘borrow’ fears and phobias from their caregivers.
- Of all clients a Hypnotherapist sees, children are the easiest to work with. Their activate imaginations are always ‘on’ and ready to hear stories. They are typically very co-operative because they have no pre-conceived notions of hypnosis (unless the adults have interjected their own). Everything from bedwetting and thumb-sucking to fears and exam anxiety respond well to hypnotherapy. It typically requires very few sessions to resolve even the most difficult of issues.
Remember that a child will never remember what fancy runners you bought him, what he got at Xmas 10 years ago, but he will remember forever how you made him feel… was it like somebody you could boss around, or smother with ill-placed over-attention, etc… or was it a feeling that he/she was good, smart, wonderful, capable, loved without condition, accepted fully as equal and able to take on his/her world?
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